The 1st annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 20 September to 5 October 1946. Twenty-one countries presented their films at the "First Cannes International Film Festival", which took place at the former Casino of Cannes. Only one year after the end of World War II, most of the films were about the war. There arose several technical issues, such as the tarpauline cover blowing away in a storm on the day before the winners were to be announced, the reels of Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious shown in reverse order, and Miguel M. Delgado’s The Three Musketeers projected upside-down. During the first festival, the jury was made up of one representative per country, with French historian Georges Huisman as the Jury President. With more emphasis on creativity than in competitiveness, eighteen nations presented their films. Eleven of them tied for the first Grand Prix of the International Festival.

Jury

The following people were appointed as the Jury for the feature and short films:

Competition

The following films competed for the Grand Prix: ]]'' by Jean Delannoy

Short films

The following short films were selected for the Grand Prix du court métrage:

Awards

The following films and people received the 1946 awards:

Official awards

Feature Films Short Films

Independent awards

FIPRESCI Prize International Peace Award

Media